Books I've been going about learning

[Tenzin]

I've been practicing a bit over an hour / day. I've been using a Mandolin Scales & Studies book and a book with Easy Classical Themes. I have no special attachment to these. I also 'fool around' with songs I have for guitar trying to play 3-finger cords and basically memorize as many fingerings as I can.

Does anyone have a book they prefer for beginners? (I have studied music theory and, although rusty, I can read music.)

Thanks in advance for letting me pick your experienced brains!

[Mark Wilson]

Even though I bought a stack of books, I ended up using the web getting started. This site (Learn/Listen), a chord theory instruction site, 2-3 instructor lead pay sites (month of lessons for maybe $20) and a ton of youtube videos.

The series of lessons I took in person probably did the most to save me from self taught ruin.

[JonZ]

If you specify the type of music that you would most like to play, you will get better answers.

[Tenzin]

It was foolish of me to not specify a genre. I'm interested in classical and wouldn't mind Celtic. I am reluctant to move into bluegrass since I almost exclusively play alone...if that's a poor way of thinking...let me have it! I enjoy David Grisman, Chris Thile, and Sam Bush.

I've been playing guitar about 30 years (nothing great...but I enjoy it). I play some of Tom Waits stuff, Counting Crows, REM --yup, Losing My Religion. So let me have it with any and all suggestions.

I'm also very interested because I broke my wrist and needed screws put it. I'm 53, so even after 10 months of PT, I really need anything that will keep my wrist from stiffening up and my wife doesn't want me swinging the good jumper cables at the kids.

[Pete Martin]

You may get something from my ergonomic videos (#2 - 5) I posted here:

http://www.petimarpress.com/mandolin...%20videos.html

[CES]

Check out Marilyn Mair’s “The Complete Mandolinist.” I’ve never bought it because, although I read music, I still tend to think in sax fingerings (darn childhood imprinting) and am much faster with tab. But, it looks like a good course. Ditto the recs for online instruction. There’s a ton of options, and a surprising amount of free stuff available...

[JonZ]

Mair’s book is a good one, but it is a challenging course that is designed to develop a broad range of skills. You might prefer just learning a lot of Celtic fiddle tunes to get started. There are several books on the Mel Bay site.

[Louise NM]

For classical, I like John Goodin's Telemann for Mandolin, published by Mel Bay. Some of the little minuets are not difficult, and good for a beginner to work on. Other pieces in the book are much more complex, and will give you something to learn as you improve.

I also like Marilynn Mair's book. It's very complete, and structured so you can jump round in it between etudes to develop the right hand, the left hand, and both together.

[David Lewis]

Something like Hal Leonard’s fretboard roadmap might be useful. It shows how the notes all connect.